


The Key to His Heart

by starkanium, wishingwontgetyouanywhere



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, High School AU, M/M, Soulmates, happy endings, not really a highschool au but whatever, sad Jean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-01-20 03:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1494667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkanium/pseuds/starkanium, https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishingwontgetyouanywhere/pseuds/wishingwontgetyouanywhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean Kirstein is just a lonely boy who wants to find his soulmate</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starkanium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkanium/gifts).



> hello! so this is my first time posting any of my work so im sorry if its really bad. i will get better, i promise.

Everyone had a soul mate that was determined by the necklace they were given at birth. No one really knew how the tradition started or where the necklaces even came from, the only thing people knew was that if their necklace matched someone else's, they were soulmates.

Most people found their soul mate around fifteen. All of Jean's friends had found their soul mate but he was the only one alone in their small group of friends.

"Maybe my soul mate died," Jean muttered to himself as he sat at his kitchen table with a bowl of soggy cereal in front of him.

Jean's mother very suddenly snapped her head up from her book and narrowed her eyes at her son.

"Jean Kirstien. That's a horrible thing to say. Now eat your cereal and get to school. You're going to be late," she scolded him and turned back to her book. Jean rolled his eyes but shoved the rest of the food into his mouth.

Once he was done, Jean placed his bowl in the sink and sank into the chair beside his mother. She sighed before marking her page, closing her book, and turning towards Jean. She softened her gaze once she noticed the sadness that lurked in her son's eyes.

"What's wrong, my Jeanboy," she asked while bringing her hand up to stroke his cheek. Being the mama's boy he was, Jean leaned into his mother's touch and sighed.

"I'm seventeen," Jean muttered and his mother scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion.

"So," she shrugged, not fully understanding why Jean was so upset. He let out an exaggerated sigh as he drew away from his mother's touch and reached his hand under the collar of his shirt to draw out the necklace that had hung around his neck since birth.

The necklace was a simple silver chain and hanging from it was a heart with an empty lock. His mother had always told Jean it looked like a locket and Jean agreed. The heart looked as if it could be cracked open but every time he tried to pry it open it, wouldn't budge. He couldn't understand the necklace at all.

"No one has a heart. Everyone has matching bugs or animals," Jean whimpered. Jean's mother remained silent for quite some time before she reached out and took the locket into her hand, gently, surprising Jean.

It wasn't an official rule or law but it was kind of an understood thing that you weren't supposed to touch other people's necklaces unless it was your soul mates. Not even your children's necklaces.

Jean suddenly felt uncomfortable; like he was being manhandled as his mother leaned closer to the necklace. To his relief she dropped the necklace as quickly as she had taken it and looked up to her son with an expression he had never seen her wear.

Her eyes were wide in wonder and her lips were tilted upwards at the corners.

"You know, Jean, I've heard rumors that some soul mates don't have matching necklaces."

Jean blinked at her several times before finally finding his words.

"W-what? That's stupid; of course all soul mates have matching necklaces," Jean dismissed his mother's theory, but her eyes were still wondrous.

"Don't be so obtuse, Jean. You'll need to be a little more open minded if you want to find your soulmate. Now get going, you’re late." Jean grumbled as he stood, pecked his mother's cheek, and rushed out the door, heading to school.

*           *           *

Jean rushed through the door of his homeroom just as the bell sounded and he sighed in relief. Levi, his homeroom teacher for the past three years - who had given up on trying to get his students to pronounce his last name correctly - raised an eyebrow and clapped twice, impressed that Jean made it through the door at the last second.

Jean nodded and strode to the back of the classroom to sit with his friends.

"Hey guys," Jean grumbled as he slid into his seat next to Marco who mumbled a hello while barely looking up from his phone. Jean rolled his eyes at Marco's concentration on the device. He was probably texting Mina, his soul mate. They had found each other when they were in seventh grade but only started going out two years before, in ninth grade.

Shaking his head, Jean turned around in his seat to talk to Connie and Sasha only to find them huddled together over Sasha’s desk where a bag of grapes laid open. They ate together, quietly talking to each other, not even noticing Jean's presence.

He smiled sadly at his friends feeling, yet again, alone. He sat straight in his seat, dug his headphones out his pocket along with his phone, and decided to listen to some music to drown out his self-pity.

He laid his head down in his arms and listened to the tunes while wondering when he would ever - if he even had one - find his soul mate.

After a few songs, Jean felt someone kicking at his foot.

"Stop," Jean muttered, not hearing a response, being lost in the beat. After a few seconds, he was kicked again. Annoyed, Jean ripped the plugs out his ears and turned to Marco who was staring at him with sympathetic eyes.

"What?" Jean hissed at Marco.

“What’s wrong? You’re normally so talkative during homeroom,” Marco asked him with concern. Jean rolled his eyes as if it were any other day and Marco was crazy.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired,” he lied.

“Bullshit, Jean. When you’re tired all you do is talk more and whine a lot,” Sasha butted in. Jean glared at her but quickly softened his gaze when he noticed Connie’s warning look. Jean had never been scared of Connie but the month before when he had witnessed Connie’s wrath on the poor freshman who was hitting on Sasha. He didn’t want to get mixed up in _that._

Jean reached up to pull his necklace from under his collar for a second time that day. His friends all seemed to lean in because Jean rarely allowed anyone to see it. The heart shaped locket was very different from Connie and Sasha’s fireflies and Marco’s bird.

“When the hell am I going to find someone with this fucking necklace?” Jean asked through gritted teeth. He couldn’t determine whether he was angry at the universe or sad with his life. Marco, Connie, and Sasha instantly understood. Though they knew that Jean was upset he hadn’t found his soul mate yet they didn’t know how much it really affected him until just then.

“You’ll find someone eventually, Jean. It’s really not all that great. You just find someone with a matching necklace as you. Really, that’s it,” Connie assured Jean which earned him a slap on his back.

“I see how it is,” Sasha muttered, offended. Connie instantly threw his arms around her and snuggled his face into her hair.

“I’m just joking, dear. You’re amazing,” he murmured making Jean scowl.

“Yeah guys, just rub it in my face,” Jean complained and started to put his earphones back in but Marco snatched them from him.

“Really Jean, don’t be so down. Once you meet them, whether it be today or in ten years, you will feel it and it will have been worth the wait. I promise.” Marco smiled at him and Jean sighed heavily. He didn’t want it to be in ten years. He wanted to have met his soul mate two years ago and be happy at that very moment.

“Is it really just meeting someone with the same necklace as you?” Jean asked, disregarding Marco’s words. Marco looked at a loss for a few seconds before his eyes lit up and suddenly he was talking.

“No, it’s really not. When you find your soul mate not only does your necklace heat up but your chest gets hot and tight and it’s hard to breath around them at first but then the more time you spend with them, the more comfortable you get, and then it’s wonderful. After a while all the nervousness you have around them vanishes leaving only complete adoration for the person. You’ll never want to leave their side, you’ll always want to see their smile, always want to hold their hand. They will always be on your mind and even though your nervousness around them is gone, your heart never stops racing when you’re around them. Your main goal will be to protect them and when they cry-“Marco’s features darkened, “You feel like you’re going to murder whoever is responsible.”

Jean stared at Marco with a dropped jaw along with Connie and Sasha.

“That’s actually perfect,” Sasha spoke after a few seconds. Jean threw his face in his hands, suddenly feeling a whole lot more empty. He sunk into his self-pity.

“Jean,” Connie snapped to get his attention. Jean lifted his head from his hands and turned to glance at Connie.

“What?” he muttered.

"Come to the mall with us after school," he said casually.

"Why?" Jean asked grumpy that his self-pity time was being interrupted.

"Don't you just wanna hang out with us?" Sasha chirped in. Jean was going to throw her a smart ass comment but when he looked at her she was smiling so innocently he bit his tongue.

"Fine."

*           *           *

The mall was pretty crowded but Jean expected nothing less. It was a Friday that would stretch into what was most teens’ winter break. It was also four days until Christmas and everyone was scrambling to find perfect presents for their loved ones, or more specifically their soul mates.

At the moment Jean was following Marco, Mina, Connie, and Sasha silently. He tried to keep some distance between himself and the group, knowing that he would look like the sad loner to others. There his friends walked together, hand in hand, and he stomped after them with his own hands shoved into his pockets.

To say the least, Jean was not having a good time.

“Oh let’s get some ice cream,” Mina suggested with a wide smile. She turned towards Marco – who was totally whipped - and then towards the rest of the group, looking for approval.  

“Absolutely not. It’s freaking December, you’re going to freeze to death. Get some hot chocolate instead,” Jean said, earning a glare from Marco who would certainly gnaw Jean down later and a thoughtful look from Mina.

“You know, Jean’s right, Marco. Let’s get some hot chocolate,” She said causing Marco’s death glare directed at Jean to melt away. He grinned at the shorter girl before giving her a peck on the forehead and pulling her into a tight hug.

“Yeah let’s go, love.” Marco turned towards Connie and Sasha who were having their own side conversation but stopped when they noticed the attention from the other three.

“What?” they asked in unison and Jean rolled his eyes at how spot-on the universe had been to pair the two together. Connie and Sasha certainly didn’t seem like the brightest bulbs on the outside but they were probably some of the smartest people Jean knew.

“You want some hot chocolate?” Mina asked while nodding her head in the direction of where Jean was to assume she wanted to get hot chocolate from.

“Actually we were going to go look for sweaters. Our parents wanted us to get matching sweaters for a photo album of our whole lives,” Connie muttered seeming quite uninterested but Sasha was a whole different story.

“It’s going to be so cute! I think we should wear a nice green sweater with some jeans. It will be so cute to look back on and show our kids how adorable we were as teenagers, don’t you think?” Sasha was beaming and basically jumping with excitement. Connie’s grimace of annoyance for the picture instantly faded as he watched Sasha jump up and down. To Jean’s confusion, Connie didn’t even flinch when Sasha mentioned kids. Jealousy suddenly filled him once again for Connie and Sasha’s love for one another. Why couldn’t he have someone to be so sure about that there was no doubt they would be together forever?

“Oh that’s cool,” Marco smiled and everyone went quiet. It took Jean a couple seconds to notice the four of them staring at him and then some to notice their locked hands.

_So that’s how it is, is it?_

“Yeah I think I’m just going to head home. Get my homework out of the way and all,” He said glancing around for the closest exit.

“Oh no, Jean, stay. We haven’t even been here an hour and you have the whole week,” Marco protested with little determination in his eyes. Jean waved him off carelessly.

“Nah, dude, you know how my mom is. Work before play and all that shit. I’ll just text you guys tomorrow and we’ll hang out later this week,” Jean assured them. Mina smiled at him with a little too much squint in her eyes while Sasha and Connie looked like they were itching to get their alone time together.

With a sigh, Jean turned on his heels and made his way in the direction they had come.

 _Now if only I could remember where I parked my car,_ Jean thought with a scowl as he stepped out into the cold.


	2. The Key to His Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean travels a lil and some dick doesn't know how to strap on a snowboard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eh sorry this one maybe a little slow but i has to get erens cute lil booty in here somehow

Jean grumbled to himself as he walked through the front door of his house. He slammed the door behind him and turned to his left swiftly only to trip over a suitcase that was laid open on the floor. His feet were swept from beneath him and somehow managed to tangle in the straps of the suitcase, causing him to fall on the hardwood.

“God damn it,” Jean cursed through gritted teeth as he pushed himself off the floor. He heard some shuffling upstairs and seconds later his mother was striding down the staircase.

“Jean, is that you?” she asked as she came down. In her hands she carried a small black toiletry bag and a pair of jeans.

“No, I’m a murderer who just happened to have the key to the house,” Jean muttered back sarcastically, earning a familiar cackle to fill the room. He cringed at his mother's laugh but felt the corner of his lips tilt upwards.

“Oh, my Jeanboy,” she mumbled to herself, shaking her head, while placing the bag and jeans in the suitcase. She bent over to zip it up and set it on its wheels. “Do you mind bringing this out to the car?”

“Sure, but why did you pack a suitcase?” Jean asked slowly as he reached out to grab the handle. His mother didn’t reply; she just turned around and walked down the hallway to the kitchen. Jean rolled his eyes, annoyed by being ignored, and dragged the suitcase out to the car. He swiftly dumped the suitcase in the trunk of his mother’s car and rushed back in the house to try to escape the cold. Just as he closed the front door behind him, his mother waltzed back into the room with her purse thrown over her shoulder. She fumbled with her phone quickly before shoving it in her pocket and directing her attention to Jean.

“Thanks for bringing the suitcase out, dear. Now go grab your jacket and get in the car. I’ll be right out, but first I need to go make sure all the lights upstairs are off,” his mother told him as she turned and started climbing the stairs.

“Wait, where are we going?” Jean asked, curious beyond belief at that point.

“It’s a surprise, just get in the car,” she threw over her shoulder before disappearing. Jean groused as he pulled on his jacket, shoved on his shoes, and stomped out the door back to the car. He slid into the front seat, shivering from the freezing temperatures. A few moments later, his mother joined him in the car. She put the keys in the ignition and cranked the heat before she entered an address into the GPS that was built into the car.

“Where are we going, Mom?” Jean asked as she slowly pulled out of the driveway. He averted his attention back to the GPS which displayed the address in the top left corner.

“Colorado?” He questioned with a cocked eyebrow. “We’re going to Colorado?”

“Get comfortable, dear. We have eight hours of highway ahead of us.” Jean snapped his gaze to the GPS and surely enough it read in the bottom right corner of the screen, ‘Seven hours and 58 minutes until destination’. Jean groaned and leaned his forehead on the icy window.

It was going to be a long drive to who knew where.

*           *           *

“You have reached your destination.”

Jean jerked awake from the robotic voice that boomed through the speakers. He glanced to check on his mother who drove with a cup of coffee in her hands and weary eyes. He turned his attention to his window and noticed how the sky was, instead of the frozen blue it had been before he faded, now a pitch black.

“Mom, are we here?” Jean asked groggily.

He squinted at the darkness, noticing the large, snowy hills that were illuminated by artificial lights. There were idle ski lifts scaling the hills. Jean smiled in pure excitement, he’d been wanting to go skiing for some time. Maybe skiing would help get his mind off the whole ‘soul mate’ situation. It hadn’t bothered him too much up until the beginning of his junior year because, by then, only a few people in his class hadn’t found their mate. At least before, he wasn’t one of the only single one.

“Yeah,” she sighed. He felt the car start to decelerate as they pulled up to the building. They slowly came to a stop in front of the large doors of a building that stood between the peaks of the mountain . A man suddenly knocked at his mother’s window and she rolled it down.

“Mrs. Kirstein?” The man asked and she nodded. Her door suddenly opened and before she slid out she turned to Jean with a warm, tired smile.

“Let’s go, sweetie,” she told him. He opened his door and made his way to the trunk. It popped open, he pulled out all the luggage, and dragged it in the building behind him. The man then took the car’s keys from his mother and stationed the car in a vacant spot in the parking lot to their right.

Jean’s mother wrapped an arm around his shoulders and they made their way into the resort. They received the keys to their cabin at the front desk and not ten minutes later were they each in their own beds, deeply asleep.

*           *           *

Anticipation built in Jean’s gut as he looked out over the mountainside. He nudged closer to the rail of the lift to watch the tiny skiers and snowboarders speed through the snow. As he neared the top of the hill, he readied himself to scoot off of the lift and down the small bump that would lead him to a set of easier hills.

He placed his hands on the edge of the bench and pushed off as he was above the landing pad. Seconds later, his skis hit the snow and he steadied himself using his poles. Once he felt secure on his feet, he inched his way over to the edge of an intermediate hill.

He took a few deep breaths, nervous since it had been almost a year since the last time he had skied. He gently pushed off from the flat surface to the downward slope, swaying from side to side in a gentle curve. He kept his speed slow to make sure that he had the hang of it before he accelerated to a faster pace.

A grin spread across Jean’s lips as he felt the wind speeding past him. He swerved to dodge an oncoming tree and let out a laugh of excitement as he leaned forward to gain speed. He was about to attempt to make a jump over a small ramp approaching but before he could even tilt his skis in its direction, he heard a shout from behind him and suddenly a body collided with his and he went toppling. He somersaulted down the rest of the hill, crashing into another solid body a few times.

Jean abruptly came to a halt. His head was pounding and his thoughts were jumbled. He felt something underneath him but he couldn’t bring himself to move quite yet, still shocked.

“Oh shit,” a voice hissed from below him. Seconds later, Jean was shoved off of whoever he was sprawled upon.

Jean turned his head in the direction of the person who had crashed into him to find a  tan boy with dark brown hair peeking out of a gray knit beanie and a snowboard strapped to one foot. His eyes were clenched shut and his lips were pursed. Just then, Jean seemed to have cleared his mind and suddenly heat filled his chest.

“Would you watch where you’re going, you idiot? You could have killed me!”  he shouted at the boy, causing him to wince from his already pounding head.  

“I know, I’m really sorry. I lost control; my foot wasn’t strapped in tight enough,” the boy apologized with his eyes still closed.

“That doesn’t magically make it okay! I could’ve died,” he yelled.

“Yeah, but you didn’t. Look, I said I’m sorry. I don’t know what else I can do to make it better,” he spat angrily. His eyes shot open and his brows furrowed in obvious irritation. Jean noticed faintly that they were a brilliant shade of green. His heart may have stopped but he decided to ignore it completely.

“Maybe you could kiss it all better,” he sneered bitterly before standing quickly, causing black spots to invade his vision. He stumbled forward a few steps dizzily but quickly caught his balance.

“As if,” the boy muttered from behind him and tried to get up only to fall back into the snow once he put any weight on his left leg. Jean spun around - making him even more dizzy - at the sound of the boy’s fall. His anger dwindled at the obvious pain that marred the boy’s features.

“Dude, are you okay?” Jean asked as unexplainable concern filled him. He wrapped one arm around the boy’s waist and grabbed his arm with the other. Heat coursed through Jean’s hands, which seemed odd, but he didn’t think much of it.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the boy spoke through gritted teeth and pried Jean’s hands off him. “Again, I apologize. I really should’ve been more careful.”    

“Whatever. Let’s just get off this hill before we get hit by someone else,” Jean suggested.

“Yeah, good idea,” agreed the boy. “The name’s Eren, by the way.”

 _Eren_ , Jean’s thoughts echoed and the name went bouncing in every which way in is head.

“I’m Jean,” he replied with a half smile that quickly morphed into glare. “But I’m still mad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, what did you guys think? like the beanie? i like the beanie. can you imagine eren jaeger wearing a fucking beanie?! idc who you are - if you dont think that too hot to handle you are not human. anyway i was planning on making this like a three chappy thing but since my fingers aren't quite going along with my plan it looks like it's gonna be a lil longer. *sigh* okay. LEAVE COMMENTS AND THANK YOU FOR READING


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doctors, unexpected feelings, falling, and the inability to breathe.  
> All of the above take place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry if this is bad and that im a bad person and didn't find time to write until today. i hope you like it.

Jean skied down the rest of what little hill was left, slowly, and halted at the bottom to wait for  Eren. Once he spotted the brunette inching down the hill with his snowboard in hand, he instantly felt guilty. He should have stayed with Eren to make sure he was okay to snowboard down the hill. He watched Eren until he had finally made it down the hill and was limping his way towards Jean.

“I thought you said you were fine,” Jean accused with annoyance laced in his voice. Eren waved off Jean’s comment and tried to limp away but Jean grabbed hold of his wrist to still him. His hand suddenly felt as if it were on fire but he didn’t loosen his grip.

“What, Jean, I’m fine. I just couldn’t snowboard down the hill because my ankle is killing me,” Eren assured Jean before tugging his wrist free and trying to get away again but Jean jumped ahead of him and rolled his eyes in annoyance. Jean couldn’t explain what it was that caused  him to feel the need to make sure Eren was completely fine, it just felt like instinct.

“No, you’re not, you’re limping. I’m bringing you to the medical clinic to get your ankle wrapped,” Jean told him.

“Honestly, I’m okay. It’s not a big deal, I’m just going back to my cabin to take a break for a bit. I’ll see you around, okay?” Eren tried to push Jean aside and irritation flared through him.

“Jesus Christ, you really are an idiot, aren’t you? Come on, I’m bringing you to the clinic whether you want to or not,” Jean announced before taking hold of Eren’s waist and picking him up bridal style.

“What the hell, put my down!” Eren shouted in protest but Jean refused as he started his way towards the large wooden cabin that was the clinic.

“You hurt your ankle. I’m not letting you walk on it. Are you crazy?” Jean reasoned yet Eren jerked around in his arms trying to squirm away. Jean’s grip on the brunette just became tighter the more Eren struggled. Normally, he would have dropped the person and let them walk on their own by then but something about Eren had Jean resisting the urge to make it easier on himself.

Five minutes later - full of struggling and complaining - Jean pushed his way through the doors of the clinic with a very upset Eren in his arms. Jean wasn’t too happy himself yet (and he questioned himself for it) he decided to actually help Eren.

Jean sat Eren down on the nearest chair he could find, which was directly to his left after entering the clinic and not a moment later was there a brown haired woman all over Eren.

“Hello, dear. What happened? Are you hurt? Where do you hurt? What is your favorite color? On a scale of one to ten how much does it hurt? What do you need me to do?” All the questions were blown up in Eren’s face causing him to flush and his eyes darted to Jean’s for help. Suddenly something swelled within Jean’s chest and he instantly reached out to grab the woman’s shoulder and yank her away from Eren.

“Give him some space. I was skiing and he was snowboarding and we had a collision. He hurt his ankle but he refused to come here by himself so I had to carry him,” Jean answered for Eren, surprising himself by leaving out the fact that it had been Eren’s fault they had ran into each other.

“Oh, his ankle? Let me check it out back in the examining room. Do you mind carrying him back there for me?” the woman asked Jean and he nodded before he could even think about it. He leaned forward and swiftly gathered Eren into his arms who made no protest, knowing it would be useless. Jean followed the brown haired woman down the hallway to a white room with a cushioned table, a chair, and a desk filled with cabinets and technology. The woman stood in front of the desk while Jean placed Eren down on the cushions.

“What are your names?” the woman asked suddenly as she spun on her heels to face them.

“I’m Eren Jaeger. I’m staying in cabin 21 with my mother, sister, and friend.” As Eren spoke, he glanced to Jean from the corner of his eyes, curiously but Jean brushed it off.

“Jean Kirstein. Cabin 25 and I’m just with my mom,” Jean rushed as soon as Eren shut his mouth. The woman nodded and turned back to her desk where Jean noticed an old computer that she was typing away at.

“I’m Dr. Hanji by the way. Jean, do you hurt at all?” She asked. Jean tilted his head in wonder as he just realized he hadn’t thought much of how he felt but more so how Eren did. How fucking strange. He waited a few seconds and after realizing the only pain he felt was the pounding of his head he sighed.

“My head is pounding but that’s about it,” Jean said and Dr. Hanji nodded frantically at her computer screen. Jean glanced at Eren quickly who was already looking at him but jerked his head in the opposite direction as soon as Jean’s eyes met his.

Weird, Jean thought but in that moment something hot burst through him like his anger on the hill only it wasn’t anger. It felt like fire from a bonfire on a cold night. It caused his stomach to flip and his heart to race. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears but then it faded leaving him with a shiver.

“Well I’m just going to check out Eren’s ankle and then I’m going to have a look over you just to be sure,” Dr. Hanji stated while turning around and walking towards Eren. Jean took a seat in the chair on the opposite side of the room in silence, still calming down from the rush that took over his body moments before.

*   *   *

In the end, Eren needed was to get his ankle wrapped and was forced to use crutches and Jean needed to stay off the slopes for 24 hours. Of course, he came here to hit the slopes and have some fun, but he would be the one to have to sit inside all day during his vacation.

Jean walked behind Eren, watching meticulously as he hobbled on the ice with his shiny new pair of aluminum crutches.

“Does it hurt bad?” Jean asked him eventually. The tense silence was becoming too much for him and he was determined to break it.

“Not too bad,” Eren grunted out. It was evident that the idiot was in pain, but he was too stubborn to say so.

“Right,” Jean hummed, “You know it’s okay to say that you’re hurting. I’m not gonna call you a baby or anything for it.”

Eren shrugged as much as he was able to with the crutches.

“Why do you refuse to act like a normal human being? You seem so grumpy and frustrated and I can’t seem to figure out why!” Jean exclaimed. He told himself that he was going to be nice to the kid because he possibly just broke his ankle, but it was impossible with Eren.

“Maybe I’m just tired and hurting and I don’t feel all that well, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?” he spat back irritatedly.

“No, that’s not what I wanted to hear but that’s better than you saying nothing at all!” Jean shouted at him. Eren flinched minutely then picked up his pace. Jean easily caught up to him because he had two functioning legs.

“Will, you slow down?” he asked, laying a hand on Eren’s shoulder to try to turn him around. Eren stopped in his tracks and tried to turn with the crutches still tucked under his arm unsuccessfully. The rubber tips of the crutches slipped on the ice just as Jean’s feet lost track of the ground. They both went toppling down, Eren landing on top of Jean with a loud oomf. Eren cried out in pain as his injured ankle jostled. Jean gasped for breath when all the air rushed from his lungs in a split second.

Eren tenderly sat up and spread his hands out on either side of Jean’s shoulders, his beanie falling off to reveal an unruly mess of brown hair. His necklace fell out from its place in the hem of the neck of his sweatshirt to lay upon Jean’s chest. They were both panting as they stared at the way Eren’s soul mate necklace, a key, laid directly next to Jean’s heart locket. The key looked like it would fit snuggly in the keyhole of Jean’s locket.

Eren reached his hand out, supporting himself on one leg and one arm, and picked up the key. He was about to push it into the locket in a trance-like state, when Jean grabbed his tan hand and halted the process.

“No,” was all that he muttered. He pushed Eren off of him none-too-gently and stood up, brushing the ice and snow that stuck to his back. He offered Eren a hand and pulled him off of the ground, handing him the crutches that ended up a few feet away from them.

“Is your ankle okay?”

Eren swallowed then shook his head. His eyes betrayed his hurt. At the sight of Eren’s eyes watering slightly as he bit his lip, trying to swallow his words, Jean’s heart went racing and, suddenly, the heat was back.

His chest got unbelievably tight, so much so it was almost impossible to breathe. He saw tints of red on the edges of his vision and his hands shook. Jean felt like he could kick himself until he could no longer stand and maybe even then some.

“Eren, I-I’m sorry. Are you really alright?” Jean’s voice sounded tight as he tried to take in enough oxygen to fill his words. Eren’s eyes darted to his momentarily before snapping somewhere behind Jean. He still bit his lip as he nodded stiffly, once.

“No, I’m sorry. It was wrong of my to touch your necklace but- but something just made me reach out and grab it. It looks so familiar,” Eren breathed, sounding winded and Jean instantly felt slightly relieved that Eren was having just as much trouble as he was, but at the same time, his heart stung for the boy’s struggling.

Jean had to admit to himself that Eren’s key looked as if he had seen it millions of times. He predicted that if someone were to give him a piece of paper and a pen that very moment he would be able to draw every detail of the key perfectly. Jean had never been one to draw or have a great memory.

Before Jean could even realize what he was doing, his fingers were wrapped around the key hanging from Eren’s necklace and gently pulled it towards him. Their faces were inches apart when Jean tilted his head downwards and took hold of his locket. He hastily lined the key up with the empty locked and pushed.

The key slid in smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe sorry bout that, lovelies...but not really lol. ok so the next chapter will either take a couple days or be up like tomorrow becuz honestly school is unpredictable like mother nature. also the next chapter will be the last chapter but dont worry becuz... i may or may not have started a really fluffly lil one chapter thing that i think is shit but my friend thinks is cute so ok. leave comments and keep on being beautiful.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long story short...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long and I am so sorry because this honestly sucks so much dick. I was going thru my works and I realized I never finished this so i spurted out this horrible ending and I am so sorry. Please curse me out and reject this chapter because it's so fucking bad im sorry.

So, long story short the locket opened up to reveal a cute inscription saying “Together at last.” Jean had freaked out three times but Eren had taken it pretty well. The first time Jean freaked out was because he had finally found his soulmate but they turned out to be a guy. A dude with a ding-a-ling. To say the least it wasn’t exactly what Jean was expecting. The second time he freaked out was because he realized that all those strange things he felt in his first twenty minutes of knowing Eren were the norm for soulmates and he didn’t think his little heart could bare all the new ranging emotions, like the heat in his cheeks or the pounding in his chest or the urge to put Eren before anything else.

Eren on the other hand was totally cool with everything. When he realized they were soulmates Eren just casually shrugged his shoulders, kissed Jean on the cheek, and said “I don’t know how I am gonna get used to loving an asshole but I guess your face makes up for your personality.” Which caused Jean to blush and respond with:

“You’re the asshole here, Eren.”

“I guess I’m your asshole now, then, aren’t I?”

So yeah. Eren and Jean spent the rest of Jean’s trip together and though Jean thought Eren was incredibly annoying, he also found him strangely addicting. Like the way Eren felt so comfortable with Jean just after a day of knowing him and draping his legs over Jean’s lap as they watched a movie or how he fell asleep on Jean’s shoulder as they just sat on the couch talking. It annoyed Jean because he wasn’t used to someone being so close to him and it was addicting for the very same reason. It felt nice to have someone leaning on you and someone to lean on. Someone to spend time with and enjoy it even though nothing about it should be enjoyable.

Anyway, Jean and Eren grew quite close within the four days Jean stayed at the resort. They watched movies together, ate together, and once Eren’s ankle stopped swelling they both hit the slopes together. They talked almost 24/7, which included texting through the night from each other’s cabins, and by the end of their time together Jean could safely say that Eren was truly his soulmate.

The day Jean had to leave to go back home was the day Jean freaked out for a third time. It was because while he was going back home to South Dakota, he realized that Eren was going to go back to Pennsylvania where he lived. He would be separated from his soulmate and couldn’t even comprehend what torture it would be, knowing what it was like to spend time with Eren but not being able to be with him.

“No! I don’t want to leave!” Jean shouted while stomping out the cabin and finding Eren within a matter of minutes who had been moping around the lobby of the resort with his sister, who scared Jean, and her soulmate (some blond that seemed way too girly to be worthy of such a beautiful girl but Jean would never admit that aloud because he was certain that  Eren’s sister would kill him slowly and painfully).

“Jean, what’s wrong? Aren’t you supposed to be gone by now?” Eren had asked as Jean stormed up to him and engulfed him in his arms. Eren instantly molded into Jean, tucking his face into his shoulder and wrapping his arms around his waist.

“I don’t want to leave you. I just found you. This isn’t fair.” Jean had muttered into Eren’s hair and the brunette just chuckled.

“Of course it’s not fair. It’s life and it just so happens to be against us but don’t worry because one day in the approaching future we will live together in a modern apartment and we will be the neighborhood gay hipster couple,” Eren spoke in a soothing voice and hugged Jean tighter.

“Jean! Come on, we need to leave!” Jean’s mother’s shrill voice pierced through the lobby and Jean huffed loudly. “Eren, I will be seeing you in the future, won’t I?” And in that moment Jean felt true hate for his mother because Eren pulled away from Jean to smile at his mother and be polite.

“Oh course, Mrs. Kirstien. You will be seeing a whole lot of me for the rest of your life.” Eren told her with a bright smile and with one goodbye kiss Jean left his soulmate behind at the ski resort.

Back at home Jean was constantly texting Eren or talking with him on the phone so much so that Marco, Connie, and Sasha wondered what they could keep talking about having only known each other for four days.

The next year and a half surpassed the torture that Jean had anticipated it to be for the two soulmates but once he graduated, Jean boarded a plane to Philadelphia and within four hours he was in the arms of the boy he had fallen so hard for.

“I missed you.” Jean breathed as he felt Eren’s arms tighten around his waist. He felt the vibration of Eren’s chuckling through his chest as Eren pressed his lips to Jean’s jaw.

“You're never leaving me again.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't look at me like that i told you it was horrible.

**Author's Note:**

> so i was thinking on making this like a three chapter thing so lets see how this goes yeah? i promise i wont take took long to upload the next chapter. anyway it would really motivate me to write the next chapter faster if you would leave some comments telling me what you liked and what you didnt. hopefully i will improve. thanks for reading


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